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Opposition struggles to make a
dent
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The outcome of Thailand's
parliamentary election on Sunday will help answer
a question that has gained prominence in the final
hours ahead of the poll: do Thais worship leaders
with absolute power?
It arises out of a
desperate plea being made by a motley mix of
academics, civil society groups, political
activists and journalists to the country's 44.5
million registered voters. They do not want the
voters to give incumbent Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra a sweeping mandate in the new
parliament, consequently placing Thaksin and the
party he leads - Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai or
TRT) - in a realm beyond accountability.
The need of the hour, they say, is for the
voters to support opposition parties vying in the
poll, thus ensuring a political environment that
respects the idea of "checks and balances".
"Many leading opinion makers are appealing
in a way they have not done before for the virtues
of checks and balances," Sunai Phasuk, a Thai
researcher for the global rights lobby Human
Rights Watch, said in an interview. "They see it
as a way of containing the absolute power Thaksin
may get after the poll."
Typical of this
mood is the step taken by The Nation, an
independent English-language daily, to run a
front-page commentary on Wednesday about the fate
of Thai democracy if the TRT gains an absolute
majority.
"The best way out is to ensure
that there are sufficient opposition MPs [members
of parliament] who can do the monitoring for all
of us and have just enough votes to scrutinize the
prime minister in parliament," the paper argued in
its commentary. "This is an unusual plea but
Thailand's situation is far from normal," added
the Nation, which is frequently critical of
Thaksin.
There are two reasons for this
clamor for a strong opposition in the new
parliament. On the one hand, Thaksin has succeeded
in dominating the country's political landscape
for the past four years, after he led his party to
victory in the January 2001 elections.
By
the time he finished his term - becoming the first
elected prime minister to do so since Thailand
became a constitutional monarchy in 1932 - Thaksin
had the support of 364 members in the 500-seat
parliament.
During his first term, Thaksin
implemented a range of economic and development
programs that injected new confidence into the
country and saw its growth figures reach more than
6% annually.
That he brooked no criticism
was evident by the manner he dismissed political
activists raging against the measures he took to
silence officials who challenged his views and
sections of the press that were hostile to the
government. Thaksin also pooh-poohed those who
questioned the government's crackdown on drug
users and alleged Muslim separatists in the
country's south, both resulting in human-rights
violations.
On the other hand, this appeal
for a stronger opposition comes in the wake of the
TRT appearing to have gained an invincible lead
after campaigning for the polls officially began
in early January. That is partly the result of an
efficient marketing blitz launched by the TRT to
attract more voters into its fold.
The
selling points, according to the Bangkok Post,
have included the promise to implement a slew of
programs for the country's poor - such as
investing 300 billion baht (US$7.5 billion) to
ensure homes in the country's impoverished
Northeast have access to tap water. Schools in the
area have also been guaranteed computers if the
Thaksin administration is re-elected for a second
term.
Critics have accused the TRT of
bending the country's election rules - or
blatantly violating them in some cases - to
strengthen its stake in the forthcoming polls.
That ranges from the governing party's hold over
state-owned television stations to its alleged use
of money to buy votes in the provinces - although
such vote-buying charges apply to all parties, as
they have for decades.
"The authorities
are abusing their power by distributing money at
every level to get voters to support Thai Rak
Thai," Sakool Zuesongdham, director of Pollwatch,
an independent election- monitoring group, told
Inter Press Service.
The amounts range
from 200 baht ($5) being paid per vote in the
provinces to 2,500 baht ($62.50) per vote in
Bangkok, the capital. "In some parts of the North,
nearly 20 million baht is being spent per province
to buy votes," added Sakool.
Opposition
parties in the fray - such as the Democrat Party,
Chart Thai and Mahachon - have also been tarnished
by election violations, in a similar vein.
But at the same time, none of these
parties has succeeded in offering an attractive
alternative program to sway voters away from
backing TRT. Such a lack of imagination is
conveyed by the leader in the opposition pack, the
Democrats - which happens to be the oldest
political party in Thailand.
During final
weeks of the campaign, the Democrat Party has
sought public support to gain 201 seats in the new
parliament, thus ensuring that the opposition has
necessary numbers to censure the prime minister in
the legislature.
"The Democrats are trying
to use the check-and-balances argument to gain
votes at the elections," Giles Ungpakorn, a
political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn
University, told IPS.
But he has little
faith in the opposition living up to that role.
"One has to look at the Democrat Party's role
during the last four years to realize the
absurdity of this appeal," he said. "It did little
in questioning the government on major polices."
Meanwhile, Thailand is on the verge of
facing a new political reality. A sweeping victory
on Sunday for Thaksin's TRT would signify the
public's faith in a leader with absolute power.
And that is already proving to be unpalatable for
the likes of Sunai, the human-rights activist. "If
the Thai Rak Thai wins in a landslide, it would be
an end to democracy in Thailand," he said.
(Inter Press Service) |
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